PrincePlanet Earth

When hes not shilling for cell phones and perfumes, Prince is giving out three million copies of this new record to newspaper subscribers in the UK. But marketing schemes aside, hes not a man made for these musical times. The guys talent is downright embarrassing in this age of lowered expectations, something he proves on the opening three tracks. He begins with a "save the planet, "Beautiful Ones-style scorcher where his guitar solo threatens to set the Earth ablaze. He follows it up with a ridiculous rocker of a pop song all about how "I love you baby, but not as much as my guitar! Then comes the gentle, muted trumpet ballad where his elastic falsetto shames every single R&B singer of the last 20 years. Sadly, he also tries to outdo R. Kelly on cheese fests like "All the Midnights in the World and the absolutely atrocious "Future Baby Mama. He can certainly do it all, but why? Much like most other veteran performers on the other side of 50  a milestone Prince will reach next year  much of Planet Earth sounds like a make-work project rather than a series of songs and performances that he actually believes in. The social conscience that surfaces doesnt get much deeper than "The main problem with war is that nobody wins. On the other hand, "The One U Wanna C, "Chelsea Rodgers and the aforementioned "Guitar could each be the type of tossed-off pop brilliance he used to crank out every week back in the 80s, and they deliver his most direct pop thrills since 2000s Rave Un 2 the Joy Fantastic. For those three reasons alone, Planet Earth helps perpetuate Princes gradual comeback, but its still in another galaxy compared to his career bests.
(Sony BMG)